Note-sheet.



PATBNTED JAN. 10, 1905. F. TAFT.

NOTE SHEET.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 23,1902.

000 0000000 9 IA 00000 000 w 0000 000 BU oo 3 0000 8U 08 v fl 8 000 flu nu 00 8 0000 mu mv 08 no 8 nu n finU RU 8 n8 nuU BU nuu 00 g a fiu 0N8 88B OHUHU nfinuuu g 888 QHHHU g WW 0 g go UNITED STATES Patented January 10, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK TAET, OF MONTCLAIR, NEIV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE AEOLIAN COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

NOTE-SHEET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 779,677, dated January 10, 1905.

Application filed July 23,1902. Serial No. 116,707.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK TAFT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Montclair, in the State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Note- Sheets, of which the following is a specification accompanied by drawings.

My invention relates to music-sheets adapted particularly for use in music-boxes and mechanical music instruments.

The object of my invention is to enable the accompaniment to be distinguished from a particular voice part or instrument part or melody and this by means of the note perfora- I 5 tions, which, though different in appearance and character, are identical in serving the function of controlling the instrument to which they are adapted.

To this end my invention consists of a mu- 2o sic or note sheet for carrying out the above object and constructed substantially as shown in the accompanying drawing, which illustrates a portion ofa note-sheet embodying my invention.

By use of the new note-sheet the performer may distinguish any one part from the other parts of a musical composition, because the movement of the sheet in controlling the instrument causes it to also serve as a moving 50 index to show the performer what parts of the instrument or parts of the composition are about to be played and at the same time serves to distinguish and separate the particular part, usually the melody, from other parts. In this manner the sheet performs an additional mechanical function not, so far as I am aware, heretofore accomplished, or certainly notin the same way.

Referring to the drawing, the sheet A, a

portion of which only is shown, (being broken away at 13,) is provided with perforations indicating the notes in the accompaniment and melody. As shown in the drawing, there are two sets C and D of these perforations, one

of which indicates the accompaniment and the other the melody, and in one set, as C, the perforations are shown continuous, while in the other set, D, they are shown discontinuous. The continuous perforations are pref- 5 erably formed of a number of substantially circular perforations, which overlap each other. In the particular note-perforation C it will be seen that the whole is made up of a number of small circular perforations c, which overlap each other, thereby giving the edges of the perforation a corrugated appearance. In the set of perforations D it will be seen that any individual note-perforation, as (Z, is made up of a series of small perforations d, which do not overlap, but are ar- 6 ranged so close together that the function and operation of the discontinuous perforation (Z is identical with that of the continuous perforation 0. According to the construction shown in the drawing the continuous perfo- 5 rations in the set C in this instance indicate the accompaniment, while the discontinuous perforations in the setD indicate the melody, and by this means the melody may be distinguished from the accompaniment, which in 7 some instances is of the greatest advantage to the operator.

My invention may be embodied in widelyvarying forms.

Therefore, without limiting myself to the construction shown and described nor enumerating equivalents,I claim, and desire to obtain by Letters Patent, the following:

As an article of manufacture a perforated note-sheet for controlling the playing of keyboard instruments, provided with perforations of different designs for distinguishing one voice or instrumental part of the composition from another whereby the said sheet when in use may serve as a moving indicator 5 to indicate the succession of notes in such part separately from the other notes of the composition, in addition to serving its function of controlling the instrument and in contradistinction to differences in the length and character of perforations for determining the duration, intensity, accent, &c., of the notes.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK TAFT. 

